“As years have gone by the members of the family learned a lot about natural medicine,” says Zine el-Abidine, another member of the al-Hawa family. “The eldest member of the family always has a huge library of books on the subject. We also bring a lot of plants from other countries here, including from China, Syria and Iran. But you must have detailed knowledge of the age of the plants, their expiry date and what they can cure,” he adds.
A lot of the local people still go to this roofed market because they trust that the sellers, many of whom are members of the al-Hawa family, know what they’re doing. The place is busy at all times of the year and casual visitors will see people simply strolling around, looking at the interesting medications and tonics, while others are clearly there on a serious mission.
It’s also less expensive to get medicine here than in local pharmacies, points out Balqis Ali, one of the shoppers NIQASH spoke with. And even if you don’t believe the herbs can help there are also very few side effects.
“There are also other things available here,” said another shopper, a woman who had not come for medicines, “such as henna colours, ancient spices and perfumes and other items, all of which you can only get here.”
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